Claire Lomas plans wheelchair marathon… in full leathers!
● Paralysed rider to do 26.2 miles in wheelchair… in full bike gear
Claire Lomas is planning to complete this year’s London Marathon in her wheelchair while wearing full riding gear – including leathers and helmet. Claire was paralysed from the chest down in 2007 after a horse riding accident. Since then she has married, had two children and started motorcycling. In 2019 Claire, 39, rode a lap at every BSB round on her modified Ducati SuperSport and has done many trackdays as well as holding a UK race licence. She has also raised over £750,000 for spinal injury research charities.
Her latest project is to do the marathon (April 26) in motorcycling clobber, although it’s not the first time she’s done the event. In 2012 she completed the 26.2 miles in a robotic suit in 17 days. She did it again in 2018, smashing her time by nine days! Now she’s hoping to finish in seven hours. She said: “I started training just before Christmas and it’s very hard in full motorcycle kit. The leathers are very restrictive and I’m a bit worried about how hot I’ll get. I get quite hot now and it’s only January! “Also, because of my spinal chord injury, my body struggles to regulate its temperature so this could be quite a major issue on the day.”
Claire is keen to beat the cut-off time of seven hours when the roads are re-opened. “It’s very lonely when the crowds disappear and it’s also hard when you have to battle with pedestrians and traffic, so it would be amazing to finish before then.” Claire, from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, is raising money for the Whizz-kidz charity which helps provide disable children with mobility equipment. See details on how to donate at claireschallenge.co.uk.
● ‘I’ve started training and it’s very difficult!’ FUNDRAISER CLAIRE LOMAS